* * *

January 08, 2004

We got a thing...It's called 'Radar Love'.

A little bicarb, please. I've bought a few seeds, just a few. How many packets? I'm too embarrassed to tell, but this may give you a clue...so many that it prompted my husband to lament to a colleague: "she's got all these seeds! And she says she's planning to get more!" Responds the colleague (wise, wise woman!): "You should just be happy they're not Beanie Babies". Heh. Indeed.

I've been making myself feel better by reading Kathleen Purdy and her compatriots at A Cold Climate Gardening Journal, with beaucoup posts these days on seed shopping (and the human psychology thereof).

So...here are some (just some) of this year's coming attractions:

Impatiens balsam. I found this easy to start from seed last year, and loved it as a plant (until it was felled by spider mites).

Snapdragons, the really tall ones. Another success story from last year, and they just kept blooming even past the early frosts. I expect to see some self-sown "children", but I want to be sure that they're plentiful and prominent in the annual bed. I fear the day that snapdragon rust comes to visit, though. Anything for that other than voodoo spells, or "crop" rotation?

Cosmos (both bipinnatus and sulphureus), zinnia elegans, and calendula. These did well sown in situ last year, and I'll be counting on the calendula to keep on keepin' on after frost.

Papaver somniferum. I wonder whether the DEA has (sensibly) clarified that growing "lettuce"/"breadseed"/"opium" poppies in your home garden doesn't make you a narcotics perp...because many catalogs seem to have them this year.

Amaranth and its cousins: Hopi Red Dye, green love-lies-bleeding, a few celosias, and a globe amaranth. My husband's favorites.

I'm venturing into trying perennial seeds for two clematis: Clematis 'Radar Love' (which I am hoping will grow successfully in a container with my overwintering Carolina jessamine, and pick up blooming in yellow when the jessamine leaves off), and a bicolored clematis integrifolia. Wish me luck, y'all.

Then, of course, there are the ones that I decided I just had to try after reading about them:

As for the rest? Let's just say I'll be busy entering them into a spreadsheet to keep track of sowing dates, hardiness, planting locations, and the like...technology being, best of all, a refuge for the panicked and overwhelmed. Just send out the men in the little white coats if you hear me talking about making it a PowerPoint presentation.

Comments

Questions: 1) Did you find seed for Petunia integrifolia? If so, where? I have only been finding plants, and I would like to grow it from seed.
2) What kind of setup do you have for growing seeds? Greenhouse? Lights in the basement? Or . . . ?
3) Are you getting the tall snapdragons in a mix or separate colors? If you can find separate colors please tell me where. And what variety are they?

Comments: I've grown Alcea ficifolia, Petunia integrifolia, Papaver somniferum 'Lauren's Grape' and other colors. They are all great plants.

1) I searched far & wide for Petunia integrifolia. The seeds I got are from Florabunda Seeds in Indian River, Ontario (url: www.florabundaseeds.com), listed under their "Fragrant Annuals" category. This is listed as Petunia integrifolia pendula, and I don't know how different this may be from Petunia integrifolia var. integrifolia (which is being offered plants-only by Select Seeds this year).
2) My seed growing setup is fluorescent lights in a heated basement. We have an unheated sunroom off our garage, but it's all glass with a southern exposure, so the temperature fluctuations are too severe for seed starting, unfortunately.
3)The tall snapdragon seed is also from Florabunda. Not offered in single colors, I'm afraid. Although I'm not a fan of mixes, the promised height (3 feet) is what I'm looking for, and I figure there will be already be mixed colors from the self-sown survivors from last year.

I bought seed of petunia integrifolia from JL Hudson's last year and also bought a few plants of Petunia integrifolia var integrifolia from Select Seeds. The plants from seed were just as gorgeous but more vigorous (maybe mailorder annuals have a hard time catching up to home grown!). Also the seed grown plants were slightly more variable in color (all shades of hot pink though). Very easy from seed.